This invention generally relates to apparatuses and methods for safely carrying an infant. More particularly, the invention relates to apparatuses and methods for safely carrying an infant on or within a shopping cart of the type designed to hold groceries, dry goods, or other items that a shopper wishes to purchase.
A parent or caregiver must often take an infant along on trips to the store. Because infants are not yet able to sit upright while unsupported, only a few options exist for allowing infants to safely ride in a shopping cart. None of the options are desirable. The first option is to place the infant in an infant car seat and rest the car seat inside the basket portion of the cart. However, because infant car seats tend to be rather large, this option prevents much of the shopping cart from being accessible to the parent and renders a significant portion of the cart unusable.
The second option is to balance the infant car seat toward the rear portion of the cart near the handlebar. However, an infant car seat is not designed for this purpose, tends to be unstable when used in this way, and makes the shopping cart top heavy. More importantly, it prevents a second child from using the child seat provided by the cart.
The third option is to use shopping carts provided at some retailers which include a built-in infant seat attached to the top, rear portion of the cart. However, this option eliminates the child seat portion of the cart for use by a second child. Additionally, this option requires that a shopper remove the infant from her or his infant car seat to be placed into the one provided by the cart. Removing an infant from a car seat is not desirable if the infant is asleep—many parents will not wake a sleeping baby to transfer her or him into another seat—or there is any type of inclement weather. Further, the built-in seats are made of hard plastic and are often left sitting out in the elements collecting dirt and grime.
The disadvantages of the above options have led some inventors to seek better ways of carrying an infant in a shopping cart. For example, U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2009/0070930 discloses a hammock sling that includes interlocking straps and extension straps with fasteners to releaseably secure the sling to a shopping cart. However, the straps require proper adjustment and there is no guarantee that, once adjusted, the infant will be laying in the sling with his or her head in an elevated position. Additionally, the straps can become entangled with one another and attaching the clips or buckles to the cart sides takes time and is difficult to do with one hand. The straps can also become entangled with one another during storage. The design of the straps also provide several potential failure modes during use (e.g., improper adjustment or attachment due to cart design, strap disengaging from the sling, and fastener breaking or buckle breaking) and a potential safety hazard because an infant or second child could become entangled in the straps or the second child could loosen a fastener or unbuckle a buckle. Further, the sling is designed to carry the infant longitudinally aligned with the sides of the cart. This restricts access to the basket area of the cart. The sling cannot accommodate an infant car seat, which many parents use to transport their infant from their vehicle and into the store. Last, nothing prevents a user who forgets that an infant is resting in the sling from inadvertently attempting to stow the cart into a second cart.